Competitive advantage through efficiencyAn Aldi case study

Page 4: Just in time

Aldi uses a just-in-time (JIT) approach to store management by only holding the stock that it needs. Stock is expensive. The company therefore only buys the stock required at any given time. When stock levels are reduced an organisations working capitalis improved.

In other words, Aldi is not tying up too much investment in stock that is then going to be held for a long period of time before it is sold to generate income. It also means Aldi does not pay for large warehouses to store stock or pay for additional staff to monitor warehouse stock.

From the moment stock arrives at an Aldi store everything is focused on reducing the cost of holding and managing the stock. For example, products are delivered in display ready cases. Once the top of the case is removed it can simply be lifted onto a shelf for display to customers. Units of 12, 24 or more can be handled easily and quickly merchandised.

It means that individual units are not picked and lined up on shelves. In fact some products are sold in store from a pallet. This is a platform for large loads that can be brought mechanically into a store. This is an efficient way of getting a large volume of products into the shop very quickly.